Mountaineers Shehroze Kashif from Lahore and Fazal Ali from Shimshal of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Hunza district, who were earlier reported missing, have been seen descending from camp 4 on Nanga Parbat, officials said on Wednesday.

The two mountaineers had summited Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 metres, on Tuesday morning. However, the duo was reported to have gone missing while on their way back.

GB Home Secretary Iqbal Hussain Khan confirmed that Kashif and Ali had gone missing between camps 3 and 4 (7,000-8,000m) while they were descending from the summit. The GB government started a rescue operation within hours, he added.

On Wednesday, Khan told Dawn.com police officials present at camp 3 had confirmed that telescope visuals showed the mountaineers descending from camp 4 and they were “okay”.

The news was also confirmed by the tour operator and managing director of Summit Karakoram, Sakhawat Hussain, and Diamer Deputy Commissioner Fayyaz Ahmed.

According to an update shared by Kashif’s official Facebook page, the two mountaineers had “spent the night in the open to wait for weather to get clear and resumed their descent early in the morning”.

“The duo is showing great resilience and willpower to manage things themselves in death zone and now approaching Camp 3 soon,” it added.

Nanga Parbat is said to be one of the toughest and most lethal mountains in the world.

Kashif and his fellow Ali had reached the Nanga Parbat base camp on June 30. They started their push for the summit on Monday evening through Kashfar wall.

Read: Teen climber Shehroze Kashif confronts mortality and history on K2 summit

Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Secretary Karrar Haidri said Kashif had “set another world record by summiting Nanga Parbat”, adding that the youngster had now scaled eight of the 14 8,000-metres mountains.

He is aiming to become the youngest climber in the world to summit all 14 8,000-ers.